GALLERY - Monica Horn

Colour and Flowers
Monica Ismay Horn ARCA
30th April -24th May

I am essentially a lyrical painter, influenced by the environment of my native Jamaica, as well as by the landscapes of Canada and England. I seek to celebrate nature, concentrating on the harmony of relationships to achieve a rhythm and balance in my work. My chief influence has been the art of the Canadian Group of Seven; more noticeably in my recent paintings, where my concern with colour, texture and pattern has become more pronounced.

In 2000 I received a Bursary from ‘Walk in the Land of Light’ which gave me training in Photoshop and led to my production of computer generated prints. The abstract experimental paintings and my 3 dimensional reliefs have developed from this. However, my chief concern is with Landscape, but every now and then I turn aside, drawn by my garden into painting flowers.

Alocasia and Orchids

Medillina

Orchids With Gourds

I was born in Jamaica, coming to England when I was twelve, and settling in Cornwall. From the age of three, I wanted to be a painter, but after completing six years at Art School, I married and with my husband, started the Kingsway Community, so painting was set aside for a while. Many of the addicts, alcoholics and homeless people who lived with us were not suited to conventional employment. This led to us setting up a workshop on our farm, making wooden puzzles, which received Design Centre approval, and which we exported all over the world.

After my divorce, I left the community, moving to Oxford to nurse my mother who was dying of cancer. I needed to be able to support my three children, so I started to teach in Adult Education and then went on to work for St. Clare’s. During this time I was only able to produce a few paintings a year, for even when my family commitments lessened, my job with St. Clare’s expanded to become virtually full time. I continued to teach adults and have run my own summer schools, taught in Venice and at the Innemore School of Art in Mull

Ten years ago I decided that I was free to concentrate on painting, and having always wanted to live in the country, I gave up my job and moved to Somerset.

I now live in Minehead. For the last eighteen months I have been working exclusively on commissions, but look forward to starting on the series of seascapes I am planning, based on a visit to Polzeath. Besides painting, I run Portrait and Life day workshops in Brompton Regis and next year I shall be teaching in the Pyrenees. : www.jonathanstours.com